'Bruno,' The Last One Hiding: Strong Island Animal Rescue Nabs Rascally Rat, After 652 Others Get Homes

ROCKY POINT, NY —'Nimh' is a secret no more.

Animal advocates from Strong Island Animal Rescue League nabbed the last pet rat hiding out inside of a home in Rocky Point on Wednesday night.

The rat has been named "Bruno" after the Disney character from the 2021 movie, "Encanto."

When asked why, the league's Frankie Floridia answered with a line similar to the song from the beloved film.

"Because nobody talks about 'Bruno,'" he quipped.

"Bruno" is part of a mischief, or group of some 669 mostly white rats that were removed from the home after authorities said they deemed it uninhabitable.

Floridia described the clever rate as "super evasive," and adding that to the creature's natural intelligence, presented a bit of a problem for him.

"Bruno" figured out how the trap with the balanced door worked and learned to bring things like debris, gloves, and plastics from the floor, and put them on the balance, so that he could walk in and walk out of the trap "with a free meal."

"He was freeloading on me; quite a few times he got a free meal," Floridia said. "I was just trying to coach him in, to get him to have a better life, where he would have food every day and water every day. He didn't realize that. So, he wasn't smart enough to know that, but he was smart enough to out-trap me a few times."

Floridia's trapping took some fine-tuning, and with the help of a friend involved in K-9 search and rescue, he set up some cameras and some other scenarios, and "Bruno" was caught but squeezed himself out from behind the metal bars.

He was able to do it because rats can squeeze their bodies through anything that they can squeeze their heads through.

After that, Floridia decided to construct a new mechanism on the trap, and wired the trap tight enough so that when "Bruno" was caught, he wasn't able to escape.

And he didn't escape.

"Bruno" was finally brought into custody by the powers-that-be at around 10 p.m. on Wednesday.

The King Of Rats

After all the other rats were caught, it took rescuers another three weeks to collar "Bruno," and in the end it was with more help than just the trap and video cameras.

There was plenty of food.

"I suspect that he had a stockpile of food hidden somewhere, which is why we had to continue to up the ante with high-reward items, like Snickers bars and muffins," said rescuer, Erica Kutzing.

At one point, they had a volunteer plying the animal with homemade macaroni and cheese.

He was getting all sorts of goodies, including fresh watermelon, vegetables, crackers, and the most coveted by rats: Cheerios.

"You kind of just start grabbing handfuls from the treat bins, and you just start filling their bowls, topping them off with mountains of treats," Kutzing said.

The rescuers were at their wits' end.

It was during that time that "Bruno" was named.

"I ended up having to give him a name because I was like, 'All right, I can't keep calling him the last guy,'" Kutzing said. "I have to give him a name. He's earned it, and, you know, and that way we can kind of work on this."

"The next time, I told Frankie: 'You're going to Wendy's, and you're getting chicken nuggets. That's the next thing we're going to use.' But we didn't end up doing that."

It was the perfect blend of savory carbs and fruit sweetness in a blueberry muffin that got "Bruno" off the lam.

In The Beginning, Hundreds Of Rats Were Freely Roaming

The story unfolded in January when a woman, whose name was provided to Patch, was arrested on misdemeanor charges of torturing and/or injuring an animal or failing to provide sustenance, as well as two counts of neglect of an impounded animal, and child endangerment, online court records show.

She pleaded not guilty, according to the records.

In the charging instruments for her arrest, an officer recounted that the woman's three-year-old grandson lived in her home for several weeks in unsanitary conditions, and was seen in only a diaper, sitting and walking on the floor, which was covered in feces and urine.

The rats were seen freely walking around the house, on furniture, beds, walls, and counters, the officer wrote, then estimated that there were around 200 of them, along with a pungent odor.

Some of the rats were dead, and there was the stench of not only feces, but decay in the house, the officer charged.

The officer charged that the woman did not properly care for a rat, named "Splinter," who was missing one eye, and the other was severely injured — covered with dried blood and scabs, possibly infected — and the animal was squinting to see out of it, "likely due to pain.

"The officer also describes how "Splinter" was kept in a metal crate with four others in a bedroom, according to the charging instruments.

The crate's bars, and the floor, had feces, making it impossible for the animal to stand without touching feces, and there was no access to clean food or water, the document stated.

It also makes mention of the house being condemned because of the animal waste, and the injured rat later being moved to an animal hospital for treatment.

Town of Brookhaven officials did not have any information about the rats, but spokesman Drew Scott said they deemed the home uninhabitable, as part of a condemnation proceeding.

Investigators estimated between 100 and 200 were living in the home, but no one really knew how many.

Patch has reached out to the town and county for an update on the case.

Strong Island's Mission To Rescue And Help Find Homes

Since the home was deemed uninhabitable by the town, Strong Island has been on a mission to remove and rehome the rats.

The animal rescuers have wrangled everything from raccoons, opossums, and wild kittens, to quite a few deer over the years, a cow, a Bald eagle, a trio of Emus, and a Eurasian lynx that was running around a neighborhood.

In the beginning of the rescue mission, Floridia expressed concern that he would not be able to catch all of them. He was hoping for a happy ending despite constraints like access to the property, including permission from the property owner, and two snowstorms that walloped the region.

As the organization continued to catch rats, there was an open, desperate call for foster moms and dads. Housing the animals proved tricky, as not a lot of people consider the long-tailed rodents cut and cuddly pets, even though that is what they are.

Not a lot of people also have the expertise or space required to handle them.

Several fosters like wildlife rehabber Kristin Stephens, took in about 60 of the mischief, including some moms and their litters of babies, and others who were hurt from fighting. Her efforts were supported by donations of food and litter from the community. (Yes, like cats, rats instinctually use litter boxes.)

She can't emphasize how wonderful rats can be as pets, and they get along with other species. Their lifespan is only about two years, and they're very smart with the intelligence of a six-and-a-half-year-old.

The animals, who do best in same sex pairs, are very social and like to be in little groups with each other, she said.

The group was a little scared in the beginning because they had been through a traumatic experience, but some bravely began to venture out of their crates and walk on her shoulder and get some yummies, according to Stephens.

"They make great pets," she said.

New Homes For The Remaining Rats Of 'Nimh'

To date, the league says that they have caught about 669 rats — a number that rose on Thursday. The rescue was aided by rescuers from all over the eastern seaboard — from the Carolinas to Maine — who helped take in the critters, and volunteer drivers who transported them to their new destinations.

The rats have been placed in homes as far away as Minnesota and Michigan.

There are now 12 rats, which remain without caretakers. They include 10 males and two females.

The organization is still in need of fosters, or permanent homes for the rats, and supplies for them, Floridia says.

“Bruno,” who appears to be around one and a half years old, has found a home with Kutzing.

"I think it's good to know that these are the smallest creatures that we've had to do a massive rescue on, and this is by far the largest rescue we've ever done," she said. "So it kind of feels ironic that we are dealing with the smallest animals but the largest volume, and it was taxing."

There were times the rescue group’s members were butting heads, and we were not agreeing, but they were tired, overworked, and emotionally exhausted from the things that we were seeing and having to clean up, Kutzing explained.

“We very easily could have just said, ‘That's it; we got them,’” she said. “And really, who would have known? But there was no way any of us could have slept at night if we had left anyone loose in that house.”

Floridia says he is 100 percent sure that there are no others in the house. There are food piles everywhere under the watchful eyes of video cameras.

"Bruno" was indeed the last one left."We defied the odds," Floridia said. "Nobody thought we could do it — even myself.

"With "Bruno" caught, it seems that the happy ending they were seeking has come to pass.

It took a lot of teamwork and support from the community, according to Floridia.

"Don't ever tell Strong Island that they can't do something," he said.